DOUG AND GERALDINE’S MIRACLES

The following is a testimony written by Mark Egerton from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.  Mark has been a part of Bold Faith Journey since 2019.

 

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Our parents Alzheimer’s had progressed during Covid to a point that they had completely lost autonomy and could no longer stay in their Assisted Living facility.  Just prior to leaving for our trip to help our parents, our dad fell and was rushed to the hospital for treatment.  The hospital advised us that given his condition, and loss of autonomy, they would be unable to release him back into Assisted Living.

 

What originally started as a trip to move our parents from one facility to a higher level of care, now became a race to relocate them to a Long Term Care facility before our father’s hospital release.  This, to be able to keep them living together in the same facility.

 

In one day, we found a Geriatric Consultant, Kate, to help us relocate our parents from Assisted Living to Long Term Care.  This happened in one day, prior to our trip from Vancouver to Montreal.  We found Kate with only two mouse clicks on Google!

 

Kate conducted all the interviews we needed and secured an unlikely agreement for Sunrise Senior Living Long Term Care to allow us to visit prior to Covid restrictions being lifted.  Sunrise accepted couples, had anglophone staff, specialized in memory care, and even had immediate availability. They uniquely met all our requirements.  Other facilities had a one to two year waitlist!  All interviews and contracts needed to be prepared in 2 days and Kate was able to make this happen.

 

The Room we needed was promised to another family that had first right of refusal, however this was removed the next day, clearing our way to move in

our mother.

 

We found a mover on July 2nd, the busiest moving week of the year!  People typically book moves two to three months in advance because all trucks and crews are fully booked by the end of June. We found a crew and truck with one phone call!

 

We needed to arrange a last-minute Covid test before Sunrise could admit our Mom. We found a walk-in appointment Covid test and got her result in one day, not three as per usual.  The negative Covid test even arrived just in time, hours before move in!

 

After failing to have the Royal Bank of Canada honour my Financial Power of Attorney from Vancouver for over a year, we met bank employees in person and were able to find a Bank Manager willing to give me online POA in just ten minutes at RBC!  This allowed us to free the funds needed to pay for extra care, as well as continue to manage their banking online and remotely.

 

We had previously been unable to speak with our father’s attending physician to arrange the forms needed to move him.  We arrived at his hospital right when his doctor was doing rounds. The doctor agreed to do the government required referral paperwork to transfer our Dad in one day.  With current Covid backlogs, this was usually taking two to three months to arrange and finalize.

 

We found a furniture store with compassionate salesmen, found everything we needed and were allowed to purchase all essential furniture off the showroom floor.  We purchased everything and loaded a moving truck THAT same day, with the balance promised and delivered in one week, not several months.

 

Again, we arrived at our Dad’s hospital when the social worker was doing rounds and got the reports we needed in two days, prior to move in and even got the agreement to do a required Covid test before move in.

 

On Sunday, the weekend of the Canada Day holiday, while wandering the hospital, we randomly found a replacement social worker who offered to help us prepare all of our Dad’s discharge papers before the next day.

 

Jessica, the nurse at Sunrise called, and followed up with us on the same day, Sunday, to advise that if we were able to secure hospital beds to arrive in Sunrise, she could arrange our father’s release on the same day.

 

After one phone, call the hospital bed company called back to arrange bed delivery on the next day, Monday, just before my sister’s scheduled flight out of Montreal.

 

On Sunday, people called willing to purchase and pick up our parents old furniture, which allowed delivery of new furniture on move in day and the following week.

 

The hospital did indeed release our father on Monday. This release needed to be timed with his second negative Covid test and hospital beds needed to arrive early, before our father’s arrival.  The ambulance for transfer needed to be available at our father’s release time the next day to coordinate with the Long Term Care nurse’s shift at Sunrise.

 

This all happened on time, ten minutes after my sister left to the airport for her flight.  Our parents were then reunited in their new Long Term Care home with the staff, furniture, medications and all release and admission documents they needed.

 

From start to finish, this process would normally take one to two months to organize and coordinate.  The Holy Spirit accomplished it all in just FIVE DAYS!  This was all a series of big and small miracles.  My sister and I just planned our day, prayed, drove, worked, and answered the phone.  The Holy Spirit did the rest. 

 

Praise God!